Chapter 186
Chapter: 186
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 186
>Chapter Title: Penance Tree (3)
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>Although he had somehow persuaded the group to move, Sungjin couldn't hide his inner embarrassment as he walked.
No matter how he thought about it, it hadn't been a smooth incitement, and his promise not to do anything dangerous was a lie that would soon be exposed anyway.
In the first place, the reason he'd decided to follow the Wolf Knights was because he judged it most efficient for him—who remained fine even when exposed to demonic energy—to step forward.
The Demon King seemed to feel the same way, nagging Sungjin endlessly during the march.
[Who's not relying on others? When your subordinate collapsed earlier, you freaked out and called for your father first.]
Yeah, right. That happened too.
'...No, but at that moment, I really thought I'd killed Sir Karmen!'
Sungjin scratched his cheek as he recalled the strange sensation he'd felt earlier. For some odd reason, he'd had a strong premonition that Sir Karmen was about to die right then.
He'd thought he'd finely controlled the impact, but when the man suddenly rolled his eyes back from what should have been a minor hit and collapsed, it had been pretty creepy.
'Still, the fact that I'm handling what I can on my own hasn't changed.'
Sungjin thought as he habitually stroked the characteristic metal groove on his walnut cracker.
He couldn't save someone on the verge of death like the Holy Emperor could.
At the very least, Sungjin was confident he could trade blows with enemies right in front of him until one of them dropped dead. Just managing that alone would lighten his father's load a bit.
Plus, that guy had entered the Rift, hadn't he? Even if he came out, he'd be seasick as hell, so Sungjin figured he should just rest without worrying about this place.
At that, the Demon King let out a sigh that seemed to shake the earth.
[Sigh. That's exactly why your father keeps worrying about you. What do you mean 'trade blows until death'?]
'Shut up!'
Sungjin's group soon arrived at their destination.
They didn't have to search far. A massive tree that looked at least 15 meters tall—even conservatively—had already engulfed the entire merchant camp, its thick roots sprawling in every direction.
Kieeeek!
Kaaack!
What they'd thought were screams turned out to be the noise from living, writhing branches violently rubbing against each other.
Above all, that intense demonic energy.
The black demonic energy emanating from the tree was so thick that, even under the dark night sky, the pitch-black haze was clearly visible.
"Where are all the merchants...?"
The group first checked for survivors, but soon realized with horror that the things dangling and swaying from the tree like fruit were shriveled corpses.
"Ugh!"
A few young knights ended up vomiting.
It couldn't be helped. Even the battle-hardened Sir Ilma felt a momentary chill from that grotesquely horrific sight.
And ironically, amid it all, the youngest of the group—Prince Mores—was the one maintaining the calmest demeanor.
'How is someone raised so delicately in the imperial palace staying so composed?'
Even Sir Masain looked pale.
Gazing at those gray eyes without a hint of disturbance, Sir Ilma was genuinely impressed.
'As expected of someone in a high position, striving not to show any loss of composure. He's quite different from the rumors!'
Of course, contrary to her misconception, Sungjin was too busy searching for Dasha among the corpses.
'...Looks like she's not among these, at least.'
After quickly scanning the tree, Sungjin felt relieved that none of the bodies looked like Dasha.
And.
'There's another survivor.'
Everyone else seemed too focused on the bizarre tree to notice, but far off on a hill, a civilian with no aura training was hiding and watching them.
Sungjin enhanced his eyesight with aura and confirmed the man's identity.
'Giacomo Milo.'
He'd survived alone, huh. He hadn't even summoned the demon he'd contracted with in a situation like this.
Was that prudence or cowardice?
To learn the details of this incident, they'd need to capture and interrogate the guy, but first priority was dealing with the tree growing rampantly before their eyes.
"Does anyone know anything about that Demonkin?"
At Sungjin's question, the entire group turned their eyes to Sir Sharon and Sir Valerie.
"To be honest, I've never seen anything like that even in the 'Apocalypse of the Otherworld.' It looks exactly like a plant, so I'm not even sure it's Demonkin."
Sir Valerie answered with a troubled expression.
"Of course, that foul aura is unmistakably demonic energy."
Just then, Sir Sharon began muttering while staring blankly into empty space.
"...Tree of the demon world... Weapon hidden by the remnants of Penance... Essence of asceticism..."
It seemed less like an explanation of the tree and more like she'd lost her mind from the horrific scene.
As the group watched her with worried eyes, Captain Bruno covertly mouthed to Sungjin.
'Channeling with Arenza.'
Ah, requesting data from the server.
And shortly after, Sir Sharon refocused her eyes and spoke.
"...Phew. From ancient times, there have been two sighting reports of that tree. Only one has an actual subjugation record."
Sir Sharon rapidly explained in her characteristic thin voice.
The tree's official name was [Demonic Tree].
However, since both instances of releasing it in Delcros were acts by the Penance Church, the records also listed it as [Penance Tree].
By the Orthodox Church's classification, it fell under other Demonkin Type 4 in principle, but combat protocols treated it like Type 1 Demonkin. It was slow, but exhibited Type 1-level movements.
"At the time, His Majesty the Fifth Holy Emperor, 18 Holy Knights, 20 Imperial Guard knights, and 16 combat priests participated, deploying the Granus First-Style Defensive Formation to engage it. It shows a sensitive reaction even to weak holy power, so if blessed properly, even regular knights could..."
That was when it happened.
The tree, which had only been writhing in place, suddenly began moving toward Sungjin's group.
Despite keeping a generous distance, the tree—which had steadily bulked up—had now reached a range where it could sense them.
Whiiish!
Sungjin placed his hand on his walnut cracker as he eyed the thick branch flying straight at them, planning to wait for it to close in and slice it in one go.
Shing!
But a golden sword drawn a beat faster from the side slashed out widely, trailing a long comet tail of moonlight. It was Sir Masain.
'...Aura burst?'
That faint crescent moon savagely shredded the incoming branches and reached the trunk.
And.
Boom!
It triggered a powerful explosion, shaking the entire body of the tree violently. A fierce wind whipped through the campsite area.
Whoooosh—
The impact was so strong that some of the dangling corpses fell helplessly to the ground, crumbling with a crunch.
The tree froze as if electrocuted, emitting an unpleasant creaking grind.
"......!"
The entire group stared at him with wide eyes, and Masain—having seized the initiative with his intense preemptive strike—asked with a resolute expression, as if he'd made a decision.
"...Shall we take it down like this, Your Highness?"
"......"
Sungjin blinked.
This man, realizing he couldn't rein in Sungjin, had apparently decided to step forward himself.
Thinking it a very fitting attitude for him, Sungjin nodded.
"Yes. Sir Masain."
Compared to the old records Sir Sharon had mentioned, their current forces seemed woefully inadequate.
Sungjin and Masain. 15 Wolf Knights including Orden. Captain Bruno and 3 resident knights. And 2 Holy Knights from the monster response team.
But even so.
'...Somehow, I feel like we can do this.'
Sungjin surveyed the group while feeling that strong premonition.
Even back on Earth, during the early gate incidents, facing unknown monsters was commonplace. And Sungjin's instincts had always been spot-on.
When he felt they should retreat, they'd suffered near-total annihilation. When he judged they could manage, most survived after a hard fight.
And in this case.
'We might even do it without any casualties...!'
Perhaps sensing Sungjin's confidence.
After staring at him for a moment, Orden turned and instructed Sir Ilma.
"Captain. We can't deploy a holy formation with our current forces. But the lack of other records means there might be numerous alternative ways to handle it."
"Yes, Young Master. For now, we'll probe it with hit-and-run tactics."
With that response, Sir Ilma shouted to the entire Wolf Knight Order.
"Disperse and surround it! Think back to fighting the Glacier Troll! This demon is huge, but absolutely not faster than that damn ice monster!"
With the familiar order given, the anxiety vanished in an instant.
The knights' eyes, already pumped from Sir Masain's aura burst, sparkled with faint excitement.
"The trick to blocking demonic energy is the same as its chill! It's harmless if it doesn't touch you, so block it with aura as much as possible and endure!"
Then Sir Valerie waved from the rear.
"Come on, anyone feeling uneasy, I'll bless you again, so hurry over here!"
The knights burst into raucous laughter as they scattered in all directions.
"The Inquisitor's got some nerve."
"...Pardon? What's that?"
"Yeah, who exactly is he calling chicken?"
"Huh?"
"He's teasing that we'd be too scared to move a step without blessings! That's a challenge to the Wolf Knights, right?"
"...No?"
Dodging and slicing the tree's trunk as it began wriggling again after recovering from the shock, the knights even had the leisure for silly banter.
Standing out among them was undoubtedly Sir Ilma.
Unlike the knights who stayed far back to avoid the demonic energy, nimbly lopping off branches, she created a wide sword barrier covering half her body and fearlessly charged right up to the trunk.
Of course, she also lightly trimmed the branches flying at her midway. And.
Swish!
She effortlessly backflipped over a massive root hurtling toward her face like a stunt, then swung hard into the center of the trunk with the momentum.
Thud!
Black demonic energy poured out like blood from the deep gash.
Sir Ilma swiftly retreated from the explosive outburst, then booted a knight who'd lost balance on the shaking ground far away with a solid kick. At the same time, she cleanly severed the branch pursuing him.
Whoa.
Sungjin marveled as he swung his walnut cracker.
'Sir Ilma. She's got it down to an art, fighting while looking after the junior knights.'
Orden Sigismund's exploits were eye-catching too.
The elegant sword movement that bizarrely bent at an odd angle and thrust forward. Sungjin recognized it immediately.
A variation of the Banahas Third Form that Sisle had once admired and mimicked. And its power lived up to the kid's words.
Boom!
A root nearly as thick as a Bastian Church pillar exploded at once, scattering hundreds, thousands of wooden shards.
Sungjin suddenly thought he'd like to see the Wolf Knights fighting a Glacier Troll with his own eyes someday.
"Don't get distracted, Your Highness! The demonic energy is intensifying."
Slash!
Sir Masain warned after slicing two incoming branches in one stroke.
As he'd said, simply chopping the tree wasn't the end. The more wounds it accumulated, the more fiercely it writhed, leaking demonic energy.
Kiiiiek!
Meanwhile, new branches sprouted from below, sealing the wounds tighter while emitting creepy friction sounds.
'...This won't end at this rate?'
Sungjin thought as he fell back a step with Masain.
The tree had stopped its rapid territorial expansion for now, but it was still growing bit by bit by adding new branches.
Meanwhile, the knights' movements were increasingly restricted. The more they cut, the more the leaking demonic energy polluted the air.
'And we'll only get more exhausted. If we don't think of something else before then...'
Then the Demon King called to Sungjin.
[Yi Sungjin.]
'Yeah?'
[I recall hearing once that to eliminate a endlessly regenerating Demonic Tree, you have to completely separate its core—the growth nucleus.]
...What?
Sungjin rolled sideways to dodge a branch stabbing down from above and asked.
'Is that like a monster core?'
[Well, functionally similar, maybe.]
Boom! A branch narrowly grazed Sungjin, deeply gouging the dirt as it returned to the trunk.
Standing and running backward, Sungjin pressed.
'But why tell me that crucial info now?'
[I only heard it as a rumor, so I wasn't sure! I've never actually seen a Demonic Tree!]
The Demon King protested as if wronged.
[That's why I've been carefully scanning the whole Demonic Tree until now. To see if the growth nucleus was visible.]
So, the fact that he's mentioning it now means...
'You found that nucleus?'
[Yeah, probably. There's a spot inside the tree where the demonic energy churns intensely and glows brightly.]
'So where is it?'
The Demon King hesitated a moment before answering.
[At the very top of the Demonic Tree...]
'Uh......'
Sungjin blankly looked up at the Demonic Tree, now towering well over 20 meters.
No, how the hell am I supposed to climb that?
'...You sure?'
[I can't be certain. But nothing else stands out no matter how I look, so it's probably there.]
Ugh.
Sungjin groaned lowly, but there was no more time to deliberate. The tree's height was rising in real time!
'Fine, let's try something!'
Whiiish—
Right on cue, a log-thick branch flew straight at him. Sungjin gathered aura in his legs and focused his mind intensely.
And before Sir Masain could even slice it.
Bang!
He kicked off the ground hard, leaping toward the highest point of the branch he could reach.
"...Your Highness!"
Leaving Sir Masain's shocked cry behind.
Tadak-tadak!
Sungjin began running fearlessly along the branch, black demonic energy puffing around him.